This application is based on and claims the benefit of German Patent Application No. 198 19 292.4 filed Apr. 30, 1998, which is incorporated by reference herein.
This invention relates to a method to transfer a data record from a first computer node to a second computer node. The invention further relates to a computer node (CN1) with a communications application (CA1) which is configured so that it transmits a data record which is transmitted to it for transfer to a second computer node (CN3) to a communications application (CA3) of the second computer node (CN3) and a computer node (CN3) with a communications application (CA3) which is configured so that it delivers to the second computer node (CN3) a data record which is transmitted to it by a communications application (CA1) of a first computer node (CN1). The invention may also be embodied as a communications application.
To work together effectively, a team that is distributed over geographically different locations must be able to exchange data among the team members"" computers. The invention is based on a method of the prior art for the transfer of documents among the members of such a team.
The team members"" computers are configured with web client applications and web server applications. These applications can exchange data among themselves at any time by means of TCP/IP (TCP=Transport Control Protocol, IP=Internet Protocol) protocols of an internet, which means that there is practically a permanent internet connection between these applications. To send to another team member data that relate, for example, to the layout of a document, the data are transported by the application that manages these data to the web client application of the sending team member""s computer. This web client application then transmits the data over the internet to the web server application of the other team member""s computer. Thus these data are provided to the latter computer. JP-A-09233085 disclose a data transmission method in which, depending on the position of the destination computer, different communications mechanisms are used to transfer data. If the destination computer is not connected to the originating computer""s network, the data are thereby transmitted via the TCP/IP protocol.
It is an object of the invention to make possible an efficient and user-friendly transfer of data from a first computer node to a second computer node.
The invention teaches a method to transfer a data record from a first computer node to a second computer node.
The invention is based on the teaching that a communications application of a first computer node is responsible for the transmission of data to a communications application of a second computer, and that the data are thereby transmitted between these communications applications in different ways, depending on the type of data in question, whereby a first type of data is transmitted via an internet, and a second type of data is transmitted via a point-to-point broadband connection established for this transmission.
This method offers the advantage that the transmission times and transmission costs can thereby be reduced. A fast but expensive broadband connection is established only for a short time to transmit a special type of data. Other data are transmitted via a more economical, if slower, connectionless communications mechanism. Because this transmission takes place transparently for the user of the client application and other applications of the computer node via a uniform application interface, the solution taught by the invention is particularly user-friendly, and does not require any modifications to existing applications.
Advantageous embodiments of the invention are described in the subclaims.
The invention teaches that it is advantageous above all to make a distinction between mass data and control data, and to transmit the mass data via the broadband connection. Consequently, a relatively rapid and cost-effective transmission of control data (no time required to establish the connection, slow transmission of a relatively small quantity of data) and mass data (additional time required to establish the connection, but fast transmission of a large quantity of data) becomes possible. The efficiency can even be increased further by buffering and compressing the mass data.